US4849638A - Single-focus collimator and scintillation camera system and method for using it - Google Patents

Single-focus collimator and scintillation camera system and method for using it Download PDF

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Publication number
US4849638A
US4849638A US07/028,650 US2865087A US4849638A US 4849638 A US4849638 A US 4849638A US 2865087 A US2865087 A US 2865087A US 4849638 A US4849638 A US 4849638A
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collimator
scintillator
interest
focal point
moving
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US07/028,650
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English (en)
Inventor
Eric G. Hawman
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Siemens Medical Solutions USA Inc
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Siemens Gammasonics Inc
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Priority to US07/028,650 priority Critical patent/US4849638A/en
Assigned to SIEMENS GAMMASONICS, INC., 2000 NUCLEAR DRIVE, DES PLAINES, IL 60018, A CORP OF DE reassignment SIEMENS GAMMASONICS, INC., 2000 NUCLEAR DRIVE, DES PLAINES, IL 60018, A CORP OF DE ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST. Assignors: HAWMAN, ERIC G.
Priority to EP88103527A priority patent/EP0289737B1/fr
Priority to DE8888103527T priority patent/DE3871611T2/de
Priority to JP63063066A priority patent/JPS63253281A/ja
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Assigned to SIEMENS MEDICAL SYSTEMS, INC. reassignment SIEMENS MEDICAL SYSTEMS, INC. NUNC PRO TUNC ASSIGNMENT (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). EFFECTIVE ON 04/18 Assignors: SIEMENS GAMMASONICS, INC.
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Expired - Fee Related legal-status Critical Current

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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G21—NUCLEAR PHYSICS; NUCLEAR ENGINEERING
    • G21K—HANDLING OF PARTICLES OR IONISING RADIATION NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; IRRADIATION DEVICES; GAMMA RAY OR X-RAY MICROSCOPES
    • G21K1/00—Arrangements for handling particles or ionising radiation, e.g. focusing or moderating
    • G21K1/02—Arrangements for handling particles or ionising radiation, e.g. focusing or moderating using diaphragms, collimators
    • G21K1/025—Arrangements for handling particles or ionising radiation, e.g. focusing or moderating using diaphragms, collimators using multiple collimators, e.g. Bucky screens; other devices for eliminating undesired or dispersed radiation
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B6/00—Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis; Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis combined with radiation therapy equipment
    • A61B6/02—Arrangements for diagnosis sequentially in different planes; Stereoscopic radiation diagnosis
    • A61B6/03—Computed tomography [CT]
    • A61B6/037—Emission tomography
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B6/00—Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis; Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis combined with radiation therapy equipment
    • A61B6/44—Constructional features of apparatus for radiation diagnosis
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B6/00—Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis; Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis combined with radiation therapy equipment
    • A61B6/54—Control of apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01T—MEASUREMENT OF NUCLEAR OR X-RADIATION
    • G01T1/00—Measuring X-radiation, gamma radiation, corpuscular radiation, or cosmic radiation
    • G01T1/16—Measuring radiation intensity
    • G01T1/161—Applications in the field of nuclear medicine, e.g. in vivo counting
    • G01T1/164—Scintigraphy
    • G01T1/1641—Static instruments for imaging the distribution of radioactivity in one or two dimensions using one or several scintillating elements; Radio-isotope cameras
    • G01T1/1642—Static instruments for imaging the distribution of radioactivity in one or two dimensions using one or several scintillating elements; Radio-isotope cameras using a scintillation crystal and position sensing photodetector arrays, e.g. ANGER cameras
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01T—MEASUREMENT OF NUCLEAR OR X-RADIATION
    • G01T1/00—Measuring X-radiation, gamma radiation, corpuscular radiation, or cosmic radiation
    • G01T1/16—Measuring radiation intensity
    • G01T1/161—Applications in the field of nuclear medicine, e.g. in vivo counting
    • G01T1/164—Scintigraphy
    • G01T1/1641—Static instruments for imaging the distribution of radioactivity in one or two dimensions using one or several scintillating elements; Radio-isotope cameras
    • G01T1/1648—Ancillary equipment for scintillation cameras, e.g. reference markers, devices for removing motion artifacts, calibration devices
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01T—MEASUREMENT OF NUCLEAR OR X-RADIATION
    • G01T1/00—Measuring X-radiation, gamma radiation, corpuscular radiation, or cosmic radiation
    • G01T1/29—Measurement performed on radiation beams, e.g. position or section of the beam; Measurement of spatial distribution of radiation
    • G01T1/2914—Measurement of spatial distribution of radiation
    • G01T1/2985—In depth localisation, e.g. using positron emitters; Tomographic imaging (longitudinal and transverse section imaging; apparatus for radiation diagnosis sequentially in different planes, steroscopic radiation diagnosis)
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B6/00—Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis; Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis combined with radiation therapy equipment
    • A61B6/50—Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis; Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis combined with radiation therapy equipment specially adapted for specific body parts; specially adapted for specific clinical applications
    • A61B6/503—Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis; Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis combined with radiation therapy equipment specially adapted for specific body parts; specially adapted for specific clinical applications for diagnosis of the heart

Definitions

  • the invention relates to scintillation cameras, and more particularly relates to scintillation camera systems which are used to produce a tomographic image.
  • the invention relates to SPECT tomography of relatively small body organs such as the heart. Reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,410.
  • a focusing collimator is set up so that the focal point is located outside the patient's body, at such a distance that the region of focus is just large enough to include the entire body slice to be imaged. Then, the camera head is rotated 360° around the body to ensure full sampling. Thereafter, each image of the slice is backprojected, and all of the backprojected images are filtered and added together to produce a final tomographic image of the slice.
  • Annular focusing collimators are known, but in the conventional annular focusing collimator the collimator is made up of a plurality of identical sections, each having its own individual focal point which is located outside the region of interest. Where, for example, an annular collimator has three sections, it may be regarded as three individual camera heads which are mounted together and simultaneously rotated like a multi-head camera. However, in all cases such collimators have a plurality of focal points which during use are all located outside the region of interest.
  • an image of for example an entire slice through the torso is a necessary by product of any attempt to merely image for example the heart.
  • a small body organ such as the heart cannot be faithfully imaged without imaging the entire body slice in which the heart is contained.
  • a collimator which has the shape of a closed curve. Within each plane of interest the collimator has one and only one focal point. The focal point is located inside the interior region of the collimator.
  • the dimensions of the collimator are chosen such that during use the focal point is positioned inside the region of interest.
  • This focusing scheme is that the information which appears at the outer periphery of the collimator directly represents a "backprojected" image value (or layergram) which is to be associated with each location of the focal point. Therefore, it is unnecessary to acquire a plurality of images about that point and to backproject them using a computer. For each point, all necessary information is acquired at one time.
  • Another advantage of the invention comes about because of the fixed relationship between each point on the scintillator and the focal point.
  • a conventional SPECT camera a plurality of photodetectors are mounted to a common scintillator and coordinates of a scintillation flash must be located within the scintillator. This is because there is no unique association between points on the scintillator and points in the region of interest; each point on the scintillator receives radiation from many points within the object of interest and the origin of a particular for example gamma ray cannot be determined from the location where it produces a scintillation.
  • most radiation detected emanates from the focal point, or from locations near it.
  • the information represented by the detected radiation is a weighting of the image values of all of the points in the object.
  • the weighting function itself is determined by the radial ray pattern and the angular beam dispersion of the collimator, as seen from each point on the detector, it follows that for a perfect collimator (i.e. one with an infinitesimally small beam width) the weighting function is inversely proportional to the distance from the focal point, and is not a function of any other variable. Consequently, within each plane of interest, the angular position of a scintillation about the focal point is unimportant. This eliminates the need for much of the weighting circuitry needed to localize a scintillation flash when conventionally focusing collimators are utilized.
  • the invention makes it possible to increase the speed of the imaging process. There are two reasons for this. First, the collimator completely surrounds the patient and thus receives radiation from a full 360° of arc. Second, the image data is acquired with focal point inside the object of interest. Because the focal point is the point of highest sensitivity, the focal geometry of the invention is more efficient than the focal geometries of know SPECT systems.
  • the invention may be regarded as a tomographic imager that works by using techniques normally employed in planar scanners.
  • FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a annular collimator of a known type, which has been shown in exaggerated scale for clarity;
  • FIG. 2 illustrates the non-unique relationship between points on the scintillator of a conventional scintillation camera and points in the body to be imaged;
  • FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of a preferred embodiment of the invention, shown in exaggerated scale for clarity;
  • FIGS. 4A-4D illustrates one type of motion which can be executed by the preferred embodiment
  • FIG. 5 illustrates another type of motion which can be executed by the preferred embodiment.
  • FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of the preferred embodiment as viewed from the side, shown in exaggerated scale for clarity.
  • a conventional annular collimator 2 is divided into for example three like sections 2A, 2B and 2C, each subtending 120° of arc and each having its own focal point FP 2A , FP 2B , and FP 2C which is located outside the patient 4 whose heart 6 is to be imaged.
  • FP 2A , FP 2B , and FP 2C which is located outside the patient 4 whose heart 6 is to be imaged.
  • Each section 2A, 2B and 2C of the collimator has a corresponding scintillator S 2A , S 2B and S 2C , which in turn is associated with a set of photodetectors; here, the photodetectors are phototubes.
  • the object of interest is the heart
  • the heart 6 takes up a relatively small fraction (perhaps one-seventh) of the area of a transaxial slice 8 through the body.
  • FIG. 2 during data acquisition, point P on the scintillator receives information from points A and B of the body, and the information cannot be traced to points A or B until the entire process of filtering and backprojection is completed.
  • the collimator 10 is in the shape of a closed curve, has one and only one focal point F, and is located within a mating scintillator S.
  • the term "closed curve”, as used herein, includes all curves which do not intersect themselves and which bound one exterior region and one interior region.
  • the collimator 10 and scintillator S will be annular; where the closed curve is of arbitrary shape, the collimator 10 and scintillator S may have the shape of a meandering path. (Although the scintillator S is shown as a single continuous element, this is merely for clarity.
  • the scintillator S need not be continuous and is advantageously made up of a ring of individual strips of scintillator material. This construction is used because a single annular ring of scintillator material is very expensive.)
  • the closed curve is a circle and the collimator 10 and scintillator S are annular.
  • the focal point F is located in the interior region 12 of the collimator 10. More specifically, the dimensions of the various parts are such that the focal point F may be positioned inside the body organ to be image (here, the heart 6). As can be seen from FIG.
  • this structure causes the summation of detected radiation which appears around the outer periphery 14 of the collimator 10 to be equivalent to the image value at the focal point F which would result from acquiring multiple individual views of the focal point F and then backprojecting them.
  • the invention makes a direct determination of the backprojection image (i.e. layergram) at the location of the focal point F.
  • the focal point F is moved with respect to the patient 4 so that it is traced densely over the region to be imaged (for example, the heart 6) and traced less densely, if at all, over body regions which are not of interest (for example, the region X outside the heart).
  • This can be done by holding the patient 4 fixed and moving the camera head 16, keeping the collimator camera head 16 fixed while moving the patient 4, or moving both the patient 4 and the collimator camera head 16 at the same time. For simplicity, it is now preferred to accomplish this by keeping the patient 4 fixed and moving the camera head 16.
  • the camera head 16 is mounted so as to rotate and translate in a polar coordinate fashion (FIG. 4), but it may be caused to translate in two orthogonal directions (i.e. Cartesian motion, see FIG. 5) if desired.
  • the camera head 16 is moved in a spiral because this requires minimal forces. It is also possible to rotate the collimator 10 within the scintillator S. While each of these alternatives has particular advantages and disadvantages, no one of them is necessary to the practice of the invention; it is only necessary that the focal point F be traced densely enough over the region of interest so that an appropriately detailed image can be formed.
  • FIGS. 4 and 5 do not illustrate the scintillator S and photodetectors because these Figures only show how the collimator 10 moves with respect to the region of interest.
  • backprojection requires a substantial amount of computer resources, it is theoretically possible to produce a tomographic image in less time because the step of backprojection is unnecessary. Additionally, since it is possible to devote more intense investigation to the region of interest, it is unnecessary to spend time producing an image of surrounding body regions which are not of interest.
  • a further and surprising advantageous result comes about because of the fixed relationship between the points on the scintillator S and the focal point F.
  • each point on the scintillator S acquires information which, in the main, relates only to the layergram, or backprojection image, at the location of the focal point F.
  • the photodetector structure it is unnecessary for the photodetector structure to have any resolving ability in the ⁇ direction around the focal point F.
  • This brings about the advantage that the weighting circuitry which is conventionally used to localize scintillation flashes within the scintillators of conventional cameras are unnecessary in the invention.
  • the three focal points F 1 , F 2 and F 3 are located on a common straight line. This results in the use of three parallel sets of photodetectors which are regularly spaced apart along the body axis of the patient. The patient may be moved parallel to the body axis.
  • the choice of the number of focal points, the arrangement of the focal points and the focusing scheme used is determined by the amount of computer resources required, the resolution and imaging time desired, the shape of the collimator and scintillator, and similar tradeoff criteria.

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  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Medical Informatics (AREA)
  • High Energy & Nuclear Physics (AREA)
  • Molecular Biology (AREA)
  • Nuclear Medicine, Radiotherapy & Molecular Imaging (AREA)
  • Optics & Photonics (AREA)
  • General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Biomedical Technology (AREA)
  • Spectroscopy & Molecular Physics (AREA)
  • Radiology & Medical Imaging (AREA)
  • Heart & Thoracic Surgery (AREA)
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  • Public Health (AREA)
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US07/028,650 1987-03-20 1987-03-20 Single-focus collimator and scintillation camera system and method for using it Expired - Fee Related US4849638A (en)

Priority Applications (4)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US07/028,650 US4849638A (en) 1987-03-20 1987-03-20 Single-focus collimator and scintillation camera system and method for using it
EP88103527A EP0289737B1 (fr) 1987-03-20 1988-03-07 Caméra à scintillations à collimateur à foyer unique et sa méthode d'utilisation
DE8888103527T DE3871611T2 (de) 1987-03-20 1988-03-07 Szintillationskamera mit punkt-fokus-kollimator und verfahren zu deren verwendung.
JP63063066A JPS63253281A (ja) 1987-03-20 1988-03-16 単焦点コリメータとシンチレーションカメラ装置及びその使用方法

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Cited By (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5032728A (en) * 1988-11-09 1991-07-16 The University Of Iowa Research Foundation Single photon emission computed tomography system
US5381791A (en) * 1992-03-10 1995-01-17 Siemens Medical Systems, Inc. Automatic indentification of anatomical features of interest from data acquired in nuclear medicine studies and automatic positioning of scintillation cameras to carry out such studies at optimal positions
US5462056A (en) * 1991-09-25 1995-10-31 Siemens Medical Systems, Inc. High-sensitivity spect imaging of small body organs using a multi-headscintillation camera with non-uniform collimation
AU741272B2 (en) * 1997-08-19 2001-11-29 Adrianus A. Van Dulmen Method of imaging by spect
WO2011153544A1 (fr) * 2010-06-04 2011-12-08 Neurologica Corp. Système d'imagerie pour tomographie d'émission monophotonique temp (spect) à haute résolution
US20140084171A1 (en) * 2012-09-21 2014-03-27 General Electric Company Systems and methods for scanning with radiation detectors

Families Citing this family (8)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO1994025879A1 (fr) * 1993-04-27 1994-11-10 Siemens Medical Systems, Inc. Imagerie spect a haute sensibilite de petits organes du corps, utilisant une camera a scintillation a tetes multiples a une collimation non uniforme
FR2735874B1 (fr) 1995-06-20 1997-08-22 Centre Nat Rech Scient Dispositif d'analyse non invasif par radio-imagerie, notamment pour l'examen in vito de petits animaux, et procede de mise en oeuvre
FR2735897B1 (fr) * 1995-10-24 1997-08-22 Centre Nat Rech Scient Collimateur pour dispositif d'analyse non invasif par radio-imagerie, notamment pour l'examen in vivo de petits animaux
WO2000062093A1 (fr) * 1999-04-14 2000-10-19 Juni Jack E Système de tomographie d'émission monophotonique
US7015476B2 (en) 1999-04-14 2006-03-21 Juni Jack E Single photon emission computed tomography system
US7767972B2 (en) 1999-04-14 2010-08-03 Juni Jack E Single photon emission computed tomography system
US7105825B2 (en) 1999-04-14 2006-09-12 Juni Jack E Single photon emission computed tomography system
US7310407B2 (en) 2004-09-03 2007-12-18 Juni Jack E Nuclear medical imaging device

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Cited By (12)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5032728A (en) * 1988-11-09 1991-07-16 The University Of Iowa Research Foundation Single photon emission computed tomography system
US5462056A (en) * 1991-09-25 1995-10-31 Siemens Medical Systems, Inc. High-sensitivity spect imaging of small body organs using a multi-headscintillation camera with non-uniform collimation
US5381791A (en) * 1992-03-10 1995-01-17 Siemens Medical Systems, Inc. Automatic indentification of anatomical features of interest from data acquired in nuclear medicine studies and automatic positioning of scintillation cameras to carry out such studies at optimal positions
AU741272B2 (en) * 1997-08-19 2001-11-29 Adrianus A. Van Dulmen Method of imaging by spect
US6469306B1 (en) * 1997-08-19 2002-10-22 Van Dulmen Adrianus A Method of imaging by SPECT
WO2011153544A1 (fr) * 2010-06-04 2011-12-08 Neurologica Corp. Système d'imagerie pour tomographie d'émission monophotonique temp (spect) à haute résolution
US20110303851A1 (en) * 2010-06-04 2011-12-15 Andrew Tybinkowski High resolution single photon emission computed tomography (spect) system
EP2577349A4 (fr) * 2010-06-04 2013-11-27 Neurologica Corp Système d'imagerie pour tomographie d'émission monophotonique temp (spect) à haute résolution
US8686368B2 (en) * 2010-06-04 2014-04-01 Neurologica Corp. High resolution single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) system
US20140291529A1 (en) * 2010-06-04 2014-10-02 Neurologica Corp. High resolution single photon emission computed tomography (spect) system
US20140084171A1 (en) * 2012-09-21 2014-03-27 General Electric Company Systems and methods for scanning with radiation detectors
US9261611B2 (en) * 2012-09-21 2016-02-16 General Electric Company Systems and methods for scanning with radiation detectors

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DE3871611T2 (de) 1992-12-17
DE3871611D1 (de) 1992-07-09
EP0289737B1 (fr) 1992-06-03
EP0289737A1 (fr) 1988-11-09
JPS63253281A (ja) 1988-10-20

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